LED tail lights

rsporsche

rsporsche

Moderator
Site Donor $$
Messages
11,344
Reaction score
4,191
Location
Atlanta, GA
guys,

i am in discussion with Steve Kolseth at classic auto leds to create an LED panel for our tail lights. check their website out - http://www.classicautoleds.com/

they specialize in british + european cars. for instance they have panels for the 2002 http://www.classicautoleds.com/bmw2002.html - both rectangular and circular configurations. while they are not for the faint of heart - $325 ea. side. my understanding is they show up quite well.

Steve's first thought was that their might not be enough interest to make it viable to produce. i have asked him to give me a quantity and a price. if you would be interested in a group buy, let me know.

cheers
scott
 
LED bulbs are available that plug into the existing sockets and are brighter. Due to the fact that the LED bulbs are much more efficient, they often don't draw enough current to trip the blinker relay. What this means is- you have to add resistors to the blinker circuit if youintend to use them.

Google or search ebay for the following. There's more sources than you can imagine.

1156 LED Red
1156 LED Amber
1155 LED Red
1156 LED White

I've been thinking of trying these out, but don't have any first hand experience....Anyone?
 
I have LED stop lights - a little brighter but not too much difference. Am looking for a higher wattage bulb with more LED on the arrray than my present ones.

Ed G said:
LED bulbs are available that plug into the existing sockets and are brighter. Due to the fact that the LED bulbs are much more efficient, they often don't draw enough current to trip the blinker relay. What this means is- you have to add resistors to the blinker circuit if youintend to use them.

Google or search ebay for the following. There's more sources than you can imagine.

1156 LED Red
1156 LED Amber
1155 LED Red
1156 LED White

I've been thinking of trying these out, but don't have any first hand experience....Anyone?
Click to expand...
 
2nd the plug-and-play approach

FWIW, www.superbrightleds.com is where I bought replacement LEDs for the indicator and brake lights on my old Triumph Bonneville. You'll need to confirm that the bulb base fits the existing socket, obviously. Also, those guys recommend red LEDs/arrays behind red lenses for better transmission of light, versus white LEDs. So they say.

Then there's the aesthetic question of whether LEDs are visually "right" for E9s in the first place...
 
LEDs and Heat same as mo horsepower

Be careful.

It's one thing for the stop lights which are infrequently used. But possibly another for running lights. I don't know if the plastic make up of 40 year old light lenses is appropriate for double or triple the heat.

FYI- Most large LEDs have heat sinks attached to the backs.
 
Heat sinks? I thought halogens created a lot of heat and LEDs, being much more efficient, did not generate so. Maybe that's only on a lumen-for-lumen basis?

Guess we'll have to wait for CFLs to fit our sockets.
 
Brake lighting

I tried the square LED array from Superbrightleds.com and came to the conclusion that they were not as bright/effective for the brake lights. I think part of the reason for this is that the brake reflector consists of the concentric reflective ridges that require a light source from the side and back of the bulbs - something the LED array cannot do. I think you are better off getting the plastic lamp holders/reflectors to be as reflective as possible.

The LED tail light panel described above seems pricey. For that kind of money you could buy new rear lenses....
 
Steve is correct, the price of the 2002 panels is for the entire set. the think i like about these panels is that they are a full array for the entire lens, rather than reflected light. i have seen 2 types of led bulbs - ones that pump out a lot of light in one direction, some of which are fanned out. the other puts light out in all direction. as somebody has already mentioned, a red lens needs a red light output ... it won't work as efficiently with a white light. the thing that i see in our tail lights is that the running light / brake light mounted in the standard socket must be a bulb that pushes light out in all directions, as the center of the brake light is not right under the center of the tail light.

check out this website with the 2002 light shown.
http://stores.intuitwebsites.com/hstrial-2002s/StoreFront.bok the 2002 uses 160 lights on the panels for each fixture.

my experience with led lamps is that they produce minimal heat compared to incandescent. if you get too hot of an incandescent bulb, you will melt or deform plastic.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top